modifying front shock mounts

[Inisadow]

I want to know if it would be structurally sound to make the hole where the bar pin mounts larger. It would accept the whole head of a non barpin style shock. I would then drill two holes next to it to bolt the shock up the same way the bottom shock mount does. To regain that strength there I would have a small hoop that would bolt in with the shock mounting bolts.

[vintagespeed]

I want to know if it would be structurally sound to make the hole where the bar pin mounts larger. It would accept the whole head of a non barpin style shock. I would then drill two holes next to it to bolt the shock up the same way the bottom shock mount does. To regain that strength there I would have a small hoop that would bolt in with the shock mounting bolts.

You could also save yourself alot of work & buy a set of bar pin eliminators for the front. Lots of companies offer them & they're cheap.

-jb

[Timmay]

I think he is confusing barpins with the stud style mounting on the upper front of an xj. I don't think it is worth it to do since you can buy the shock conversions (pretty much the same as bar pin eliminators) for reallly cheap. Barpins are what mount the shock in the lower font and upper rear on the XJs. :cheers:

[MontanaXJ]

If you want to use a standard upper mount for a shock like on a Bilstien 5150 just get the JKS conversion mounts and save yourself the trouble. I don't see what benefit you would get from changing the upper mount other than that. The stud mount is just fine is most applications and using the JKS conversion actually takes away some of your shock length as I understand it, bar pins are a different issue.

[Inisadow]

Yes I was mixing up the names of the mounts. The point is I dont want to use the barpin eliminator because it lowers the mounting point down so much. Basiclly what I am saying is to make the top front shock mount identical to the bottom. The reason is to gain up travel while keeping the rest of the suspension the same.

[BrettM]

sure, but if you start removing too much metal you might want to plate (1/8") the surrounding area.